Access Live Zendesk Data in TIBCO Data Virtualization

TIBCO Data Virtualization (TDV) is an enterprise data virtualization solution that orchestrates access to multiple and varied data sources. When paired with the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for Zendesk, you get federated access to live Zendesk data directly within TIBCO Data Virtualization. This article walks through deploying an adapter and creating a new data source based on Zendesk.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData TIBCO DV Adapter offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Zendesk data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Zendesk, the adapter pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Zendesk. Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Zendesk data using native data types.

Deploy the Zendesk TIBCO DV Adapter

1. In a console, navigate to the bin folder in the TDV Server installation directory. If there is a current version of the adapter installed, you will need to undeploy it.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -undeploy -version 1 -name Zendesk
   

2. Extract the CData TIBCO DV Adapter to a local folder and deploy the JAR file (tdv.zendesk.jar) to the server from the extract location.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -deploy -package /PATH/TO/tdv.zendesk.jar
   

You may need to restart the server to ensure the new JAR file is loaded properly, which can be accomplished by running the composite.bat script located at: C:\Program Files\TIBCO\TDV Server <version>\bin. Note that reauthenticating to the TDV Studio is required after restarting the server.

Sample Restart Call

.\composite.bat monitor restart

Authenticate with Zendesk Using OAuth

Since Zendesk authenticates using the OAuth protocol and TDV Studio does not support browser-based authentication internally, you will need to create and run a simple Java application to retrieve the OAuth tokens. Once retrieved, the tokens are used to connect to Zendesk directly from the adapter.

The following code sample shows how to authenticate with Zendesk. You will simply need to execute the Java application with the tdv.zendesk.jar file in the class path.

ZendeskOAuth oauth = new ZendeskOAuth();  
oauth.generateOAuthSettingsFile("InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;" + 
                                  "URL=https://subdomain.zendesk.com;User=my@email.com;Password=test123;" + 
                                  "OAuthSettingsLocation=C:\zendesk\OAuthSettings.txt;");

Once you deploy the adapter and authenticate, you can create a new data source for Zendesk in TDV Studio.

Create a Zendesk Data Source in TDV Studio

With the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for Zendesk, you can easily create a data source for Zendesk and introspect the data source to add resources to TDV.

Create the Data Source

1. Right-click on the folder you wish to add the data source to and select New -> New Data Source.
2. Scroll until you find the adapter (e.g. Zendesk) and click Next.
3. Name the data source (e.g. CData Zendesk Source).

4. Fill in the required connection properties.

   Connecting to Zendesk

   To connect, set the URL and provide authentication. The URL is your Zendesk Support URL: https://{subdomain}.zendesk.com.

   Authenticating to Zendesk

   You can authenticate using the Basic or OAuth methods.

   Using Basic Authentication

   To use Basic authentication, specify your email address and password or your email address and an API token. Set User to your email address and follow the steps below to provide the Password or ApiToken.

   • Enable password access in the Zendesk Support admin interface at Admin > Channels > API.
   • Manage API tokens in the Zendesk Support Admin interface at Admin > Channels > API. More than one token can be active at the same time. Deleting a token deactivates it permanently.

   Using OAuth Authentication

   See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for an authentication guide.

   NOTE: Set the OAuthSettingsLocation property in the DV Adapter to the same value you used when performing the OAuth authentication (see above).

5. Click Create & Close.

Introspect the Data Source

Once the data source is created, you can introspect the data source by right-clicking and selecting Open. In the dashboard, click Add/Remove Resources and select the Tables, Views, and Stored Procedures to include as part of the data source. Click Next and Finish to add the selected Zendesk tables, views, and stored procedures as resources.

After creating and introspecting the data source, you are ready to work with Zendesk data in TIBCO Data Virtualization just like you would any other relational data source. You can create views, query using SQL, publish the data source, and more.